People Explain What They Believe Is Root Of All Evil

A Cartoon Villain

"Dinkleberg…"

– Gaming_Gent

"Had to scroll way too far for this reference. Have some fool's gold"

– TheChargedCreeper864

Evil Itself

(evil)^1/2

– gavlegoat

"OP asked root. Not square root. Could also be the cube or quad root"

– clueless_robot

We May All Be Evil

"Ham. Dangerous sh*t."

– Hamfiter

"Damn. In that case, I'm a f*cking supervillain."

"Ham is delicious, fear my (apparent) dangerous insanity."

– Fr057y6077

Well...

"The first track of Octavarium by Dream Theater. Next question?"

– Vibe_PV

Ick.

"Kale"

– DancingBear2020

"Nutritious and disappointing..."

– Odd_Description1

"Hardy, but evil. Especially the roots."

– DancingBear2020

Pure Evil

"25.807"

– Quick-Bad

"The square root of 666..."

– GboyFlex

Others took the question seriously.

One Deadly Sin

"Greed"

– pfahler

"I think it’s impossible to boil it down to one root but if you had to, yeah. Greed."

– Incongruent

"Nailed it. Was having a discussion with some buddies and offered the following question. What would happen if greed was universally replaced by altruism?"

– mbozzer

Being Scared

"Fear. Fear creates hatred and all negative emotions, but there’s no way to get rid of fear so"

– Deegster_010

"I think it's fear. As far as I can tell fear is the root of greed."

– the_ricktacular_mort

"Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering."

– PolyJuicedRedHead

Power and Control

"The desire to control other people."

– akaKinkade

"Yup, the need for power."

– SpakysAlt

""Power! Unlimited power!" was the motivation of Palpatine, one of the most evil villains in cinematic history. He's basically the Devil."

– BubbhaJebus

Is Anyone Better?

"Us vs Them mentality."

"Be it war, racism, politics, religion etc. It's all the same. My people are better than your people. Forgetting that we are actually all the same. People."

– SanianCreations

Apt.

"Entitlement"

– PossibleDesigner7002

Not Bliss

"Ignorance. In all its possible meanings."

"Ignorance leads to fear of the unknown. Fear leads to hatred. Hatred causes violence. Violence is the basis for conflicts. Conflicts lead to death. And death causes only more fear, hatred, and conflicts."

"Ignorance causes withdrawal. Withdrawal can lead to dogmatism. Dogmatism breeds intolerance. Intolerance leads to hatred. And once again, hatred causes violence and conflicts, which cause death, etc."

"Ignorance leads to decline. Decline causes frustration. Frustration leads to hatred. And once again, hatred causes violence conflicts, which cause death, etc."

– TraceFinder

Evil can be contained if the cause is known, and that's why knowing the root is so important.

But again, the root cause of evil is different depending on who you ask.